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Charity's delivery truck stolen during Christmas
A nonprofit needs your help, after their brand-new box truck was stolen on Christmas Eve.
TACOMA, Wash. - Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity is in great need of holiday cheer after a thief stole its new box truck.
Officials with the nonprofit said the 2017 Ford box truck was parked and locked inside their offsite warehouse on Christmas Eve.
Ed Dopp, director of operations, said he received notice on Sunday from their alarm system detecting motion at the warehouse. Tuesday morning, the team returned to work to find the aftermath of a break-in.
"We went down there, and the keypad had been broken into," said Sherrana Kildun, chief development officer. "We woke up after a holiday ready to come back to work and serve our community. It’s a blow. It’s disheartening."
Not only did the thief steal their new box truck, Habitat for Humanity also said the suspect cut cables on their other trucks, stole the vehicles' batteries and all their gas cards. Officials said three other businesses at the same complex were also victimized.
"It was like the perfect storm," said Dopp.
Habitat for Humanity recently purchased the box truck for $56,000 from a local commercial business. It became their largest box truck in the fleet. Spending that kind of money is not something Dopp said they take lightly. The director of operations explained their other two box trucks and much of their equipment is donated to Habitat for Humanity.
"It’s going to be difficult to replace it if we can’t find it," said Dopp.
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit that relies on donations to build, rehabilitate, and repair homes for low to moderate income families, with the goal of achieving affordable home ownership. The loss of the box truck puts a strain on their services and fulfilling the mission. With one less in the fleet, the team must rely on two of their smaller trucks to pick up donations throughout every corner of Pierce County.
"We’ve already had to cancel some of our pickups over the last couple days," said Kildun.
"It bothers me that we work very hard to support Pierce County, and the thought that that doesn’t matter to some folks. It’s kind of saddening. But it’s a different world now and a lot of people are struggling," said Dopp.
The white box truck is so new, Habitat for Humanity had not even branded it yet. There are no logos or decals on any parts of the truck.
On Friday, Kildun told FOX 13 that the truck had been recovered in Redmond, Washington.
Kildun said Habiat for Humanity has been a victim of theft several times before, but never to this magnitude. She said the team will increase security measures, including vehicle trackers and security cameras, to prevent future break-ins.
Despite the setback, Kildun said they will continue providing the services people know, love, and rely on in the community. All they ask now is for the community to help them find their box truck or replace it.
"The donations that could be used to continue to fulfill our mission are having to be directed for security reasons and theft and things like that," said Kildun. "So, instead of allowing us to enhance and serve the community more, we have to slow down a little bit."